EVENING. Health. HEALTH LINE. Letters.

Q. Since women are not as prone to heart attacks as men...

Q. Since women are not as prone to heart attacks as men, and since cholesterol is what causes heart attacks, then controlling cholesterol in women is not as important as in men. Do I have my facts straight?

A. I suppose your letter might be classified as "a little knowledge may be a dangerous thing," for in using facts that are half right to construct your conclusion, you have come out just about all wrong.

Women are less prone to heart attacks then men, but only when you consider the statistics before menopause. Once the protection that female hormones must afford is finished, the picture changes dramatically and within six to 10 years after menopause, women have caught up to the men and are suffering heart attacks at about the same rate.

Elevated cholesterol is a factor in heart attack and cardiovascular disease. But it is only one factor and cannot be locked into a direct "cause and result" relationship.

The National Cholesterol Education Program fails to draw any distinction between men and women in offering exactly the same guidelines about detection, evaluating and treatment of high blood cholesterol for both.

Appropriate therapy depends upon a variety of factors, but it includes diet as a first-line defense followed by medication when indicated.

Q. I'm a woman who is plagued by genital warts. There must be some treatment that can offer me the hope of being rid of this hateful situation. What should be done to remove these things from my body?

A. Several treatments are possible, though there is no one perfect solution to your problem.

Genital warts are the result of an infection by a virus, the human papilloma virus (HPV). Some recent research has linked this condition to the development of genital cancers, and it is recommended that you have a Pap smear before any treatment is started so that the results may be used to help guide the physician in deciding upon the best treatment.

The most widely used treatment is the use of podophyllin and tincture of benzoin, which is a solution that may be applied directly to the lesions. Several applications may be necessary before all the warts have been destroyed. If after four treatments the area is still not free of lesions, an alternative procedure may be tried. These include cryotherapy (freezing the warts with liquid nitrogen or solid carbon dioxide), burning the lesions with electrosurgery or surgical removal.